Every person you know and every
person you don't know, is a treasure
seeker.

A is seeking wealth; he rises early,
labors hard and retires late, plans,
studies, contrives, bends every energy
of his being to get his prize. He
would tell you that he does not care
for money--does not worship it--
yet poor man he is evidently deceiving
himself; his actions speak louder
than words. He would labor so for
no person or thing he does not love.

B is seeking honor and respect;
he bends his energy to that end;
money nor ease nor any other thing
would purchase his honor. He says
"A good name is rather to be chosen
than great riches. I will leave to my
family a legacy of honor." He loves
honor and shows it by his actions.

C is seeking pleasure: give him
pleasure, jollity and mirth and he will
give you his purse, his time, and
sometimes his honor; this is a pleasure
seeker.

D seeks for fame, and art or war,
or science, or the pulpit, or stage are
merely stepping-stones to the attainment
of the treasure which he seeks;
the applause of men--fame.

E loves office and power; he becomes
a politician and seeks it as his
prize. He drops business, family,
pleasure, friends, ease; all go; all are
sacrificed if need be to gain the prize
of his ambition--this treasure he loves
and seeks.

F has no ambition beyond the
comfort of family and friends, and the
social pleasures of home. Thought
and muscle are taxed to this end.

G seeks approbation of others, and
dress of person, or of children, and
by act, word and look she studies to
obtain this aim of her life. No labor
is too great, no method too low, no
time too valuable if she can excite
admiration.

H loves self and seeks personal
ease. He likes money because it will
give him ease. He likes civilization
and improvements because they will
be of use to him; thinks favorably of
wife, children, friends and servants,
because they are useful, convenient
and can assist him. He worships
ease and loves it.

Dear brother and sister, here we
have the pictures of the treasures of
all our neighbors and friends. Are
your treasures among them? Say
not that your aim is a blending of
these with others. The experience of
the wisest men is, that success in life
is attainable only by the concentration
of aim and powers upon one attainment;
that man's life is too short
and his powers too feeble to reach
several goals or prizes; to obtain more
than one treasure.

Do I hear you say that the prize
for which you are running is a heavenly
one and that you are laying up
your treasure in heaven? I am glad
that when you hold these treasures
up before your mind you recognize
them all as earthly, which the moth
and rust of time will soon destroy.
I am glad if your hearts have not become
so fond of these things, that
you worship them and think them
beautiful. But let me put it plainly:
Would your neighbor judging from
your daily acts not suppose that you
are bending all of your energies for
some of these prizes? Is he deceived,
or are you, with reference to
your real aim? Do not your actions,
as well as his, speak louder than
words--What is your real treasure--
the thing which you really love?

The prize set before us in the gospel
is far greater, far grander, far
more pleasurable, far more honorable
and far more rich than all of earth's
prizes combined: and in addition it
fadeth not away. If we obtain our
prize we will have "a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory."
If we reach the goal of our race, we
shall be the bride of the Lamb--heirs
of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ
our Lord. "They (the world) seek
a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible"
one--"a crown of life
[immortality] which fadeth not away."

Do you say that you expect to gain
both this heavenly prize and also some
earthly ones? Not so, not only does
human experience teach that life is
too brief, but God's word assures us
that we "cannot serve God and mammon,"
(the world).

If these earthly prizes are obtained
by so much effort, self-denial and perseverance,
how about our great prize,
should it not have yet more demand
for our sacrifice of comfort, etc., in its
acquirement? Yet, now look at it--
your life labor; what is it for? You
are a farmer, let me ask you, for what
is your labor spent? I plow, sow,
reap, raise stock, provide for myself
and family, give to the support of religion,
and lay up some each year by
which I add farm to farm. What
treasure did you lay up in heaven?

You are a merchant; let me ask you,
for what is your life and labor spent?
I attend to my business diligently
early and late: I allow nothing to
hinder it. By careful management
and by giving it all of my time and
ability, I am able not only to provide
the comforts, but some of the luxuries
of life for my family. I give a tenth
of all my profits to the Lord in benevolent
and religious ways, and besides
I have accumulated considerable
property. What treasure have you
accumulated in heaven?

You are a tradesman or mechanic;
how are you spending your life and
labor? I give my time, labor and
talent to my trade. I get as many
of the comforts and luxuries of life as
possible, and if I could would lay up
some earthly treasure. I give my
time and energy as fully or more so,
than some who have better success.
What time and talent have you expended
seeking the heavenly treasures?

You are a housewife; how are you
spending the life and labor consecrated
to God's service? I spend it all in
my household duties, and when I
make home very comfortable, and do
all the little things I can to make it
elegant and tasteful, and to keep my
children looking the picture of neatness,
and receive and make some calls
among my worldly friends, that together
with my own personal adornment
takes up all of my time. What treasure,
what little things have you made
ready for your heavenly mansion?

You are a widow--what are you
doing with your life and talent consecrated
to God's service? My life is
an humble one, and my opportunity
for doing good is on a small scale,
but when I learned from God's word
that I was redeemed from sin by my
Lord and then heard of the high calling
to be of the Bride of Christ, a
joint-heir to an inheritance incorruptible
...that fadeth not away, I
asked upon what conditions, I might
be one. The word informed me that
I was to make a complete consecration
of myself, mind and body, talents,
reputation, influence, to the Lord to
be used thereafter as his and I was
to be as one dead, so that with Paul
I could say: "I live, yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me." So then, the
will and talents, and all, would be his,
and used by him. I had so little to
give him; I have little talent, no money,
and almost no influence, and almost
feared I need not come, but the word
assured me that what our Father
wanted was my heart and my consecrated
service, that he had plenty of
money and reputation. So then I
came: I gave myself all to him.

"All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my beings ransomed powers;
All my thoughts and words and doings,
All my days and all my hours."

When I had fully consecrated all, I
realized that it must not be in word
only, but also in deed. I therefore
sought direction from the word and
prayed for understanding of it. I
asked myself, does the Lord want me
to go out into the streets and preach
and expect food and clothing to come
miraculously for myself and child? I
found that God's will was, that I
should spend some time and labor
earning a living--that he that provideth
not for his own household is worse
than an infidel. I found too, that Paul
labored, working with his hands, that
he might not be chargeable to any. So
I went to work as usual, knowing that
if I was acting as God's agent, he
wanted me to eat, and dress to his
glory. Then came the query: shall
I labor and save money, so that in a
few years I can stop all kinds of labor,
and give all my time to God's service?
And again the word answered:
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon the earth"--and again: "Having
food and clothing therewith be
content."

Next I inquired, how comfortably
shall I live; how much time shall I
spend in the support of the old "earthenvessel," and how much could be
devoted more directly to God's work.
I ordered and regulated my time so
that none of it might be wasted--eating,
working and sleeping were all
arranged with a view to the glory of
God, and I found that I had three
hours for my consecrated work. As
already stated, my ability is not great
and I wondered how I could make
use of so much time. I said to myself
it is of utmost importance that if
I am God's representative and child,
and going forth as his servant, that I
should know as much as possible of
Father's will. I must therefore, spend
some of my consecrated time in feeding
my new nature and embroidering
my wedding garment. Father tells
me to "search the scriptures," so
with my Bible and my "WATCH
TOWER," I daily spend one hour--
not in reading, but in earnest study.
I searched and found daily spiritual
[R186 : page 1]
food and my "daily bread" sometimes
took two instead of one hour.

How should I use my other hours?
I sought the WORD again. It said we
were to spend our lives "doing good
unto all men as we have opportunity,
especially to the household of faith,"
and I looked at Paul, Peter and Jesus
[R186 : page 2]
who said, "ye have us for examples,"
and "He hath set us an example that
we should walk in his footsteps."

Yes this made my way clear; my
chief object should be to give spiritual
help, or secondly, any temporal
aid or comfort to those needing it. If
there were two needing, one a saint,
the other a sinner and I could help
only one, the preference was to be
shown for the saint.

I first visited my next-door neighbor,
who has sickness and trouble,
helped her to straighten her home
and spoke a word of comfort and
cheer and pointed her to a shadow of
a great rock in this weary land where
she might find solace and protection
from the fierce rays of affliction. I
felt grateful to Father for thus permitting
me to comfort a cast down
one.

I next called on a lady of whose
deep piety and christian character I
had heard much, which led me to suppose
that she lived very close to God.
I wondered if she knew anything of
God's great loving plan--of the Bride,
the second company and the restitution
of mankind in general to their
former perfection, as the result of
Christ's ransom. I found her zealous
and earnest in the Lord's service but
her zeal was not according to knowledge,
for she loved mankind and
seemed to fear that God did not; she
was carrying burdens, etc., and I
thought how much good it would do
this dear sister of the household of
faith, if she knew as we do, God's
loving plan of salvation.

The thought occurred to me, you
asked God to use you in his service,
may be he is about to use poor you
as his mouthpiece to tell this other
dear child of his plan. The thought
made me feel humble, for I realized
my own littleness and I feared lest I
should not so present the subject to
her, as to avoid arousing her prejudices.
Secretly I asked for wisdom.
I introduced myself as a child of God
and heir of glory come to spend a
half hour in christian intercourse.
We talked of personal experiences
and of the love of God manifested toward
each of us, and I found no opportunity
then of introducing much
of the plan to her attention, merely
suggesting that it would be blessed
when the millennial reign would
subdue evil and the "knowledge of
the Lord fill the whole earth," and on
leaving I gave her one of our new
tracts--No. 1.--"Why will there be
a second advent?" She thanked
me, promised to read it, and invited
me to come again, which I did, taking
other tracts and our paper. That
sister is now rejoicing with us in our
grand hopes and says her Bible has
become a new book to her.

Thus my time was spent from day
to day, until the three hours were not
enough and became four, and I
doubt not if Father sees best he can
so provide for our temporal wants
that I can give all my days and
hours in this blessed work. It sometimes
brings reproaches and scoffs
from those who misinterpret my motives,
but "In his service pain is pleasure,"
and I rejoice that I am counted
worthy to suffer reproach for the cause
of the Master. It seems to bring me
more close to him who set us the example,
and I consider Him who endured
such contradiction (opposition) of
sinners lest I should be weary or
faint in my journey in "the narrow
way."

These five pictures represent persons
who have consecrated all to
God, who have covenanted to become
dead to earthly aims, and ambitions
and prizes, and have entered the list
of those who will strive for "The prize
of our high calling" and "seek for
glory, honor and immortality"--the
honor, the glory and the life promised
only to the Bride--the overcomers,
who keep their covenant.

Let us not deceive ourselves, brethren,
into thinking that the Scriptures
mean the opposite of what they say,
when the message of the Master
reads--"Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth"--nor conclude
that it has no meaning, when it says:
"Lay up for yourselves treasure in
heaven." Think not when you are
spending all your energies for self
and money making, that you are following
the instructions of Jesus, denying
self and walking in His footsteps.
He spent his time and energy in
teaching and doing good to others.

Why, brother Russell, what strange
views you hold on this subject. I
fear you are erratic. Do you forget
that the Apostle enjoins that we be
not slothful in business, fervent in
spirit, serving the Lord? Do you
forget, too, that Jesus in the parable
condemns the servant who hid his
money in the earth, and commends
those who traded with their talents
and increased them? Would you
have us stop business? Would you
have us sell our property and give
or throw it away? Are we not to be
God's bankers, subject to his check
or order?

No, dear friends, but I am convinced
that in this particular all
Christians have been led from the
scriptural rule and instruction by the
customs of the world, ably supported
by the selfish principles of the old,
fallen, human nature. When the Lord
engaged with us and sent us into His
vineyard, we said, I go, sir; and then
supposed we were living up to our
contract when we had done some labor
one day in the week, spending
six times as much of our time, and
amazingly more energy, in the accumulation
of our earthly treasure
than in his service for heavenly treasure.
And if this is so the sooner we
look at the matter fully and honestly,
the better.

I will answer your queries. I am
aware we are not to be slothful in
business, but is there not quite a
difference between doing with your
might what your hand finds to do,
both in the Lord's service and in the
proper care of these bodies, etc., on
the one hand, and giving all your
might and power.

"All your days and all your hours"

in laying up earthly treasure (or trying
to do so) and giving the hand no
opportunity or time to do for the Lord.
Should we not pay some heed to the
portions of that text which require
us to "serve the Lord and be fervent
in spirit"? Should we so exaggerate
the statement "not slothful in business,"
as to cause it to sap all the
forces of our being, prevent our serving
the Lord as we have covenanted
to do, and cool off and starve out the
fervency of our spiritual nature which
we have no time to cherish or feed
with God's word? Is this your understanding
of "not slothful in business,"
my brother, my sister? No, I
am sure it is not.

To your second question I answer:
Yes, I remember the parable of the
Talents given to the servants, etc.
These talents represent our abilities.
When you came into covenant with
God you gave him yourself. If you
were an orator, count that five talents;
if you were wealthy, count that two;
if you had some power to make plain
to people in a private way, God's
love, count that three; if you could
do none of these things, but could
speak a word of kindness and sympathy
and pave the way for others to
declare the riches of God's grace,
count that one. These talents were
yours and you presented them to God
and He in turn handed them to you
again, telling you to use them and
increase them in his service. Thus
he departed saying to us, as his church,
"occupy till I come." At his coming
he reckons with the servants and rewards
them as they had made use
of their abilities in his service.

Paul's talents we will suppose to
have been oratory. If Paul had gone
to tent making as a business, to make
and lay up earthly treasure, or if he
had used his oratory for the applause
of men, or worldly wealth, it would
have been the hiding of his talents in
the earth. In a word the parable of
the "Talents" shows that you and I
are responsible for the best use in
God's service of all talents we maypossess.

Would I have you sell your goods
and give or throw your money away?
The money and goods you possess
should be reckoned as the Lord's, and
you should use it as his word directs
--neither wastefully, nor carelessly,
nor grudgingly; but "whatsoever ye
do, do all to the glory of God." But
it is one of the mistakes we have made,
to suppose that, "we are God's bankers,
possessing either little or much of
his money. He does not give it to
us as bankers, but as stewards, and
the difference is this: the banker
keeps money and merely pays out
when he receives an order from the
owner. The steward is entrusted with
the money to spend in the owner's service.
So God makes all his children
"stewards of the manifold grace (numerous
gifts) of God." Some possess
many, others few. According as they
possess these gifts, they have a stewardship
to fulfill in disposing of them.
If wealth be one of these, it is your
duty as a faithful steward to find ways
and means of using it to God's glory.
He has given us many ways and opportunities
of doing this. It may be
spent in spreading the truth, or in
ministering to the necessities of the
saints, or for the poor in general, or
in any of a hundred ways that may be
presented to your attention, and commend
themselves to your judgment--
"doing good unto all men as you have
opportunity, especially to the household
of faith."

Money is useless except as it can
do some good to somebody, therefore,
if you have it, use it. God is the
great giver of all good, and wants his
children to partake of this feature of
his divine nature--love--benevolence.

Would I have you quit your business,
quit your farm, quit your trade?
That depends on circumstances: If
you are devoting more time to your
business than is needful for your necessities
and the proper support of those
who are dependent upon you, and the
various avenues you may have for
money in the Lord's service, then I
should say stop some of your business
[R187 : page 2]
and use the talent which would
go to laying up treasure on earth in
some branch of the Lord's service.

Are you wealthy? If so, I would
suggest that you stop at once the
work of money gathering and "heaping
treasure for the last days," and go
into the Lord's service with the same
talents used in the service of self, and
see if you can spend it as freely and
as rapidly as you could make it.
Make it your business to serve theLord and then be--"not slothful in
business." If you had lived in harmony
with the commands of the Lord,
it is altogether probable you would
not now have so much. Make amends
for past neglects--go into the vineyard
and though it be the "eleventh
hour," you may yet receive the "penny"
(immortality).

But I am well aware that few of our
readers are rich in earthly treasure.
"Not many rich...hath God
chosen, but the poor of this world,
rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom."
What would I say to those not rich?
I would say that probably you are not
to blame for not being rich; perhaps
you worked as hard, and planned as
much, to get riches as some who did
get them: perhaps you are not poor
because you spent your time and talent
and money in God's service, diligent
in his business: How is that--
ask yourself? If that has been your
failing, begin anew, put forth your
principle energies in laying up treasures
in heaven. Let the principal work
of life be, to render to God the things
that are God's--the things which you
covenanted to spend in his service--
your all. If you thus "seek first the
kingdom of God and its righteousness,
all these (earthly things) shall be added
unto you." Probably not many of the
luxuries of life, but all necessities will
be sure.

To the mothers and housewives
let me say: Do not forget all other
duties and privileges while attending
to one. If we consecrate all to God
and then in every act seek to know and
do his will, I understand that every
such act is accepted of him as done in
his service. He has placed you in a
responsible position; your first duty
is to see to the comfort and good of
husband and children, and with such
things God is well pleased. But do
not forget that all is to be done as
pleasing the Lord. Therefore remember
the words of Paul regarding
the dress, the hair, etc., both of yourself
and your children, and so order
your time that you will have some of
it for partaking of spiritual food and
some for ministering to others.

If you have means and can employ
servants and thereby have your owntime to spend in the work of the Lord,
we would suggest that as a wise use
of time and money to God's glory.

Finally, to all we would say: We
recommend to your careful study and
imitation example No. 5--the widow
--as being a practical illustration of
the teachings and acts of Jesus and
the apostles, and warn you to lay
aside earthly treasure seeking, as calculated
to weigh you down to earth
and result in your losing the prize for
which we are running and which we
believe is so soon to be realized. Use
earthly things--money, talents, reputation,
all, as means to help you to
make your calling and election sure,
just as a man seeking earthly wealth
uses every ability for the accomplishment
of his ends. Let us lay aside
every weight and run with patience the
race set before us, looking unto Jesus.

Does some one object that so living
and not laying up treasure on
earth would lead to want when
sickness comes? I answer, it would
bring you into a position where your
trust in God's promises would have
opportunity for exercise. But living
thus closely to God you could claim
all of the promises. "No good thing
will He withhold from them that
walk uprightly." "For we know that
all things shall work together for
good to them that love God (and
show it by obedience to his word) to
the called according to his purpose."
Besides I suggest that sickness is
spoken of in scripture as being largely
the result of sin, and the work of
"Him that has the power of death;
that is, the devil." The whole world

through sin has come under his control,
but when any become disciples
of Christ they are transferred out of
the kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of God's dear Son. These,
it would appear, are no longer subject
to Satan except as his power may
be permitted of Jesus and overruled
for our good.

While our Lord may sometimes
permit Satan to afflict his sheep for
their development and perfection,
sometimes, as in Paul's case, permitting
"a thorn in the flesh as a messenger
of Satan to buffet" them, yet
we believe that as a rule if we were
using our powers entirely and conscientiously
in God's service we would
not be so subject to sickness. "If
we would judge ourselves, (see that
we live in obedience to God's will)
then we should not be judged of the
Lord, but when judged we are chastened
of the Lord, that we should not
be condemned with the world."
(1 Cor. 11:31-32).

James intimates the same thing
when he says: "Are any sick among
you...the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and if he have committedsins they shall be forgiven." Jesus
implied the same thing when, before
healing, he usually said, "Thy sins
be forgiven thee." It is for us, however
to follow the voice of our Shepherd
and to trust him while we follow
him.